ISIS jihadists seize key Syria town on Iraq border

The jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) seized control of the key Syrian border town of Albu Kamal on Tuesday after a fierce three-day battle with rival fighters, a monitor said.

A spokesman for rebels fighting ISIS as well as President Bashar al-Assad’s regime said the jihadists took the town after pouring in reinforcements from neighboring Iraq, where they have overrun chunks of territory in a swift offensive.

The takeover comes two days after ISIS declared a “caliphate” in territory they seized in both Syria and Iraq, and ordered the world’s Muslims to obey its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

“The Islamic State took total control of Albu Kamal in (the oil-rich province of) Deir Ezzor, after fierce fighting pitting it against rebels backed by Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Omar Abu Leyla, the rebel spokesman for Deir Ezzor province, told AFP “the battle was fierce… But ISIS has won this round.”

He said the jihadists won “after deploying major reinforcements from Iraq into Syria on Monday night.” [Note: This is the entire reason that Western Intelligence and Israel’s Mossad created ISIS – to regroup from losses to Syria and try again to topple Assad’s government.]